Weird Facts About the Class of 2017

The high school classes of 2017 will soon be walking across stages to shake a hand and get an empty diploma folder. And as soon as they turn their robes in and get the real thing, they will be the latest group of young adults thrown into the world.

The graduates of the class of 2017 were mostly born in 1999. Here’s a look at the world they came up in.

Clipart/Jari Kivel

They are as old as The Phantom Menace. Midichlorians, Jar-Jar and pod racing have always been part of the Star Wars world for them.

9/11 happened before they went to preschool. The United Sates has had an actable military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan for most of their lives.

A phone has never been just a phone to them. They’ve always had a phone with camera and internet access.

Their parents have always been on Facebook. They have no active memory of MySpace, Friendster or Classmates.com.

They’ve never know a world without online shopping.

Netflix is older than them and has been stream video since they were eight-years-old, and YouTube has been streaming videos since they were six.

They’ve probably never had to use a paper map.

Justin Timberlake and Beyonce have been a solo artist most of their lives.

To them, Dr. Dre is a headphone magnate, Ice Cube is a movie star and LL Cool J is a TV actor.

They are barely a year older than the PS2, and younger than the Nintendo 64.

Record albums are collector’s items to them, and there’s a good chance they have never bought a new CD.

Nirvana and Pearl Jam are as much Classic Rock to them as Led Zeplin and Boston.